


Be Merciful

by NoOneKnowsIWriteThis



Category: Silent Hill (Video Game Series)
Genre: Angst, Choking, F/M, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Maria Ending (Silent Hill), Maria's ongoing identity crisis, Murder, Non-Consensual Drug Use, References to Illness, This is what Maria Ending James deserves tbh, Under-negotiated Kink, Unsexy Sex Scene, past-Mary/James
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-18
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 11:22:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25349932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NoOneKnowsIWriteThis/pseuds/NoOneKnowsIWriteThis
Summary: She loved him with every single part of herself, despite knowing all too well that he would be the death of her.-Maria decides to end James's suffering.
Relationships: Maria/James Sunderland
Comments: 1
Kudos: 15





	Be Merciful

Maria knew her illness was only getting worse, and she knew there was no hope of a miraculous recovery. She knew her purpose. She was created as an obstacle, a temptation, a test; one that James had failed. She was never meant to leave the town. She’d half expected to vanish with the fog as they drove away.

But James had chosen her. He _wanted_ her. Perhaps he was even coming to love her as Maria was crafted to love him.

She did her best to hide her worsening illness from James. After all, just because she knew she’d been made to serve as a painful reminder for him of his sins and failings that didn’t mean Maria  _ wanted _ to hurt James. She loved him with every single part of herself, despite knowing all too well that he would be the death of her.

But there was only so much she could hide when she was living with him.

Even though he’d already suffered through losing Mary in the exact same way and it had driven him to take dire actions that he still hadn’t fully come to grips with, James made every effort to play the concerned and caring lover. However, there was a flicker of resentment in his eyes that only grew as Maria became sicker. He did his best to conceal that from her. It certainly wasn’t apparent in his actions, but then he hadn’t let Mary see his growing frustrations with her until he’d finally acted.

Despite knowing that Silent Hill fully expected James to repeat the same sins that had led him to the cursed town in the first place, Maria strived to treat James better than Mary had. After all, she was created from  _ all _ of his fantasies about Mary, not just his sexual ones. So she bit back the impulse to yell at him when he hovered over her during her coughing fits.

She sat hunched on the bed while James stalked about the room, his actions only serving to set her on edge. She managed to gasp out a request for water and felt a wave of relief roll over her when James left to fetch it. He returned and loomed over her as her coughing subsided, handing her the glass of water when she gestured for it, then he took the empty glass from her and rushed out of the room with it. He took longer to return after that; Maria suspected he was grappling with the dread and guilt from watching her develop the same illness that Mary had suffered from.

James hesitated in the doorway on his way back, but Maria caught his eye and smiled at him and patted the bed beside her. He gave in, sitting stiffly next to Maria as she leaned against him, her hand lightly running up and down the top of his leg. Testing, she let her fingers slide to James’s inner thigh and heard his breath hitch in response. Maria tilted her head to check if his reaction was positive or negative. James looked back at her like a startled rabbit, frozen and unsure. Maria let a sultry smirk play across her lips; the faint flush on James’s cheeks and the growing desire in his eyes told her that her advances were more than welcomed.

Maria spun herself around so that she was straddling James’s lap. James’s mouth fell open—though no words came out—while his hands moved to lightly grasp Maria’s waist. This wasn’t terribly surprising. James was often a bit awkward when it came to sex, usually relying on Maria to make the first move and take the lead whenever he felt he could get away with it.

Maria kissed him, which had the desired effect of prompting James to act. He kissed back and his hands dropped to Maria’s hips. Maria pushed forward and James fell back onto the bed. Maria broke the kiss and stared triumphantly down at him.

“Is this alright?” she asked sweetly, already knowing the answer, but knowing James liked to be asked.

He nodded quickly several times before his brow furrowed as a thought crossed his mind. “If you’re feeling well enough,” he said, making a transparent attempt to temper his obvious eagerness.

“I wouldn’t have started this if I wasn’t,” Maria lied easily. She went to work on undoing James’s jeans, pulling them and his underwear to about midway down his thighs, just far enough for what she wanted. She hiked up her skirt and drew a startled gasp out of James as she mounted him. She practically purred with delight as she smirked down at James.

"Y-you don't have to… We can slow down if you want," James began to babble, his hands reaching out to grip Maria's thighs. His words were meaningless offers since both knew that neither one of them wanted to stop. James was trying to ease the guilt that still nagged at him. It never worked.

Maria chuckled and then began to move.

Normally, James would fall quiet except for moaning and gasping; his only words were usually Maria’s name. This time, however, he couldn’t seem to stop speaking, mumbling apologies each time Maria moved.

She attempted to shush him, and when that didn’t work she pressed her finger to his lips, which also had no effect. Maria gazed down at James, his eyes screwed shut and his expression tense, and an idea came to her. Maria knew all sorts of things that James had never told her, from his favorite foods to his guilty secrets, but this idea sprang from her knowledge of his sexual fantasies. Maria lowered her hand to James’s throat and squeezed slightly.

His eyes flew open—the terror in them almost made Maria pull back—but then his gaze focused on her and James’s fear shifted to excitement.

“James…” His name slipped from her lips without thought. He was as natural for Maria as breathing. She felt his pulse racing under her hand, matching her own. “I'm not Mary.”

“Of course,” James murmured, his throat rumbling as he spoke. “You're Maria.” He let out a breath and closed his eyes once more.

Maria began to move again, keeping light pressure on James’s neck, not enough to hurt him, just enough that he could feel it.

James quickly came with a choked gasp. Maria loosened her grip and watched the blood rush back to James's throat.

— 

They didn't speak about things.

James had never been good at expressing his feelings, that didn't magically change because of Maria. She just had more knowledge of his thoughts than Mary could have ever hoped to possess.

And yet Maria still didn't seem to be enough. She never snapped at James no matter how frustrated she grew or how overbearing he was. James was having the best sex of his life by Maria's estimate. As far as Maria could tell, he had no reason to feel lonely or unsatisfied besides her worsening illness. But that dark look kept appearing in his eyes, the one that spoke of growing resentment.

If things were to continue, it seemed that, despite Maria's best efforts, James would once again walk the same dark path that had previously led to Mary's murder and taken him to Silent Hill.

The town would call him back if he killed her, of that Maria was certain. Even if he didn't kill her, the guilt that continued to weigh him down would be enough to give the town a foothold when she died. It would lure him back, force him to once again confront his fears and failings, and only once it was satisfied would it let him die.

Maria knew the town’s intentions the same way she knew James’s desires: she was made from them. And she knew that it punished those who failed and were pulled back again with a far harsher hand than it did first-time visitors.

James would suffer worse than before, unless Maria did something to protect him.

—

It didn’t take long for Maria to formulate a plan, after all planning a murder was relatively easy if one wasn’t concerned about getting away with it, and Maria didn’t think she’d survive James’s death. There was no point in keeping a lure around if there were no fish to bait; the town had no use for her without the man she was made to tempt.

Maria knew she had to act quickly. She was living on borrowed time and her illness was worsening rapidly.

The main obstacle Maria faced was that James was stronger than her. If he fought back he'd be able to stop her and then he might kill her in response, which was the exact opposite of what Maria was trying to accomplish. So on the night she decided to act, Maria brought James a drink laced with sleeping pills. James would only turn to alcohol when he fell into a dark mood, desperately trying to forget things he didn’t want to remember, but if Maria approached with two drinks in hand and sat beside him making meaningless chatter about some innocuous topic, then James didn’t protest and always drank with her.

She watched him carefully and guided James to bed when he began to nod off.

As she waited for him to fall asleep, Maria braced herself for what she was about to do. Once she started there would be no turning back.

She approached where James was lying on the bed, unaware and unconscious. Like she had so many times before, Maria straddled James’s body, only this time she was further up, her legs pinning his arms down.

She took a final look at his sleeping face, it was peaceful. It seemed that on this night at least James wasn’t troubled by nightmares.

Maria leaned down and kissed his forehead one last time. Then she brought her hands to James’s throat and squeezed. James’s unconscious body struggled against her, trying to draw in air. Maria kept up the pressure. She would end his suffering.

James’s eyes cracked open, confused and scared, but still sluggish from sleep and the pills. He attempted to break free, but his arms simply flexed weakly against Maria’s legs and his shoulders barely rocked. She couldn’t even tell if he’d managed to move his legs. Maria wasn’t sure if James was fully conscious or not, his expression seemed so dazed as he looked up at her, his lips moving to form a name, but with no air to make sound.

A drop of water splashed down on James’s cheek and Maria suddenly became aware that she was crying. Still she did not relent.

James’s body became limp. Maria didn’t let go until she was sure he was dead.

She pressed a kiss to James’s still warm lips and lay down in the bed beside him and fell asleep. In her dream, the two of them slipped beneath the waves of Toluca Lake hand in hand.

**Author's Note:**

> My sister pointed out that I just assume James will kill Maria in the Maria Ending, which got me thinking about the idea of Maria deciding to kill James as an intended mercy, similarly to how James killed Mary, and so this fic was born.


End file.
